When Feeling Bad Is Good (Hardcover)

by Ellen McGrath (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Twice as many women suffer from depression as men, according to a report issued in 1990 by the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Women and Depression. This higher incidence is related to the stresses of being female in modern society. McGrath, clinical psychologist and chair of the task force, distinguishes culturally based, healthy depression from biologically rooted, unhealthy depression (which requires professional treatment). Both conditions are affected by a core of traditional values and expectations that influence women's behavior; if unchecked, healthy depression may lead to unhealthy depression. McGrath identifies six types of healthy depression and examines the social and cultural sources for each. She offers such strategies as exercise and activities that promote a positive self-image. Especially helpful are chapters discussing inherited factors and vulnerability to unhealthy depression. This book is recommended for popular psychology and self-help collections. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
- Lu cille Boone, San Jose P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
A guide to converting bad feelings into a healthy depression describes those feelings as a realistic and appropriate response to adverse life situations related to being female in contemporary culture. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805014748
• ISBN-13: 978-0805014747
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,548,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cultural look at women's depression, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

Where other self-help books tend to perpetuate readers' bad feelings by pointing to something that is "wrong" with them, Ellen McGrath does something infinitely more helpful: She provides clear, rational, *cultural* explanations for women's depression and offers action-oriented approaches to dealing not only with the depression itself but also with the factors contributing to it.

McGrath explains that cultural pressures and attitudes cause women to become depressed about their relationships, bodies, and age - making us feel victimized, depleted, and angry. The depression caused by these forces, McGrath tells us, is natural, normal: "To not feel angry or victimized by some of our typical female experiences would be to live in a fantasy world of denial" (p. 7). Yet, she reminds us, we are living in a time when we have more opportunities, more power available to us than women from any other time: "We can reclaim and transform the negative energy we had devoted to suppressing and denying these bad feelings and use it instead to set our lives moving in a healthy new direction. Once we accept that there are times when feeling bad is good, we've taken an important step toward living more fulfilling lives..." (p. 8). She then goes on to show her readers how this can be accomplished through taking action, self-exploration, and learning to recognize the forces at work around and inside us.

This book is currently out of print. As a woman who has found it incredibly helful and healing, though, I think it should be brought out of retirement. McGrath refuses to see us as passive, helpless victims, and I think it's high time we refuse to see ourselves that way, too! This book can help.